


Lethal Sins

by notvelma



Category: Oz (TV), Sons of Anarchy
Genre: Crack Pairing, Crossover, M/M, Rare Pairing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-05-31
Updated: 2016-05-30
Packaged: 2017-11-06 09:02:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 20,783
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/417109
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notvelma/pseuds/notvelma
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Oz/Sons of Anarchy crossover. Jax Teller has been spending too much time with Deputy Hale lately, leaving Opie a little jealous. But soon enough, Opie finds himself distracted by the newcomer, Jaz Hoyt, fresh out of prison and looking for a place to set up roots. Jaz has his eyes set on Opie and he doesn't want to take no for an answer. Jax/Hale & Opie/Jaz.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Takes his Pain to Town

**Author's Note:**

> Clearly there is some suspension of disbelief required here. AU because Jaz gets out of jail after serving ten years, instead of what they did to him in the season finale of Oz. I've only seen the first season and a half of Sons of Anarchy so I'm ignoring anything that happened after that, and I'm just sort of rewriting both canons in minor ways to make it fit my story. Because that's how I do my crossovers.
> 
> Takes place around season 2, will contain spoilers for season 2 events (I'll warn again in the chapters containing the spoilers).
> 
> This goes quite a bit off canon, but I suppose that's what fanfiction is for, right?

**Chapter One: Takes his Pain to Town**

Even with the desk separating him from Jax, it wasn't enough for Deputy David Hale to feel safe. 

Jax Teller was a dangerous man, and David knew that for sure; he'd always known it, but things had taken on a different meaning in the last month. Jax had been spending a lot of time at the station and in David's company. The reasons for that time together seemed pretty flimsy – "I just wanted to ask you about ..." or "I was in the neighborhood …" – and their conversations were usually inane and pointless, yet Jax kept stopping by and David kept letting him.

And, well, maybe David was starting to get thoughts he shouldn't have about a guy that could stab him quicker than he'd have time to pull out his gun or protect himself. Jax Teller was _dangerous_ , and David was constantly reminding himself of that fact.

The blond man put his hands flat on the desk and leaned forward. Jax had a smirk on his face, a stupid cheeky grin that made Hale want to smack him across the face for being insolent. He thanked God he'd never had children, and he sure as hell didn't blame Clay for not getting along with the kid. 

"Get your hands off the desk, Teller," David said. Underneath the desk, his right hand gripped his knee so hard the knuckles were white. He knew he had to control himself, or he was going to do or say something he'd end up regretting very much.

Jax picked his hands up off the desk, holding them up defensively as he stepped back, looking a little amused at David's reaction. For a long moment, he didn't speak and instead eyed David as though expecting something else. Finally, he said, "Well, my business here is done anyway. Guess I'll see you later, Deputy." He winked and then sauntered out of the office in the way that only served to draw attention to him. Was Jax capable of doing anything without making himself the center of attention? 

Once he was alone, David swiveled the chair around so he was facing the wall and let out a sigh, running his hand through his hair and wondering what the fuck he was going to do about this. He was too old to be having a crush on anybody, let alone _Jax fucking Teller_ , heir to the throne of SAMCRO. And maybe it wasn't just a crush, because what he really wanted was almost too embarrassing to admit. 

David had fucked guys before, back in college – and Jesus, hadn't everybody? – But never before had he had such an urge to be dominated by somebody else. He daydreamed about Jax slamming him against the wall with enough force to bruise him before tearing his clothes off and fucking him so hard he couldn't sit down right for a week. He _wanted_ to be abused by Jax Teller, and David knew how fucked up that was. Fuck, if Unser found out – if _anybody_ found out – well, there went his job and any respect he'd earned from having the badge. SAMCRO would definitely have something to say about that. 

Still, sometimes he ached for the rough domination he was sure Jax could offer him. He wanted it so badly that he thought he just might go for it, consequences be damned. One day he wouldn't be able to stop himself from doing something drastic.

*

Jaz Hoyt never been to Charming before, but he was already sure that he was going to like it here. The friends he'd used to have – before he'd gone to prison, that is – probably would have thought it strange to find out that Jaz loved these quaint little towns where everybody knew everyone else. It felt like a family – a hell of a lot homier than the place he'd grown up in.

Since he'd been out of prison – just about four weeks now – he hadn't yet found a place to settle down. He sure as hell wasn't moving back to where he came from, and so he'd spent the last couple months travelling. So far, though, there wasn't anywhere that he'd gone where it felt like _yeah, this is it; this is where I belong_. Charming was just another stop on his way to find his home. If there was a motorcycle club he could join up with as well – well that would just be the icing on top of the cake. 

For now, though, he needed to get his bike checked out, so he pulled into the auto shop he saw ahead – Teller-Morrow Automotive. Looked nice enough, but then again Jaz never did know the difference between a good auto shop and a bad one. Cars were not his area of expertise. 

He pulled his bike up front and turned it off. As he climbed off and took his helmet off his head, a skinny blond guy came out, wiping his hands on a rag as he eyed Jaz and his bike. 

While the kid was looking at Jaz, Jaz was looking right back, taking in the kid's vest, the 'prospect' patch and the _Sons of Anarchy_ on the back. A motorcycle club? Well, it looked like he just might have picked the right place to make a pit stop. He couldn't help grinning at that thought. 

"Can I help you?" the kid asked a bit warily as he took in Jaz's appearance. He probably noticed the tattoos and was wondering if Jaz was dangerous. Jaz hoped he would realize that wasn't true. 

"Bike needs a tune up," he said. "Been riding for days, want to make sure everything's okay with her before I move on," he added with another grin. He wanted the kid to see he wasn't intending any harm. He really did just want a tune up, though the part about 'moving on' might not have been entirely true. He'd have to see what the rest of Charming was like before he decided for sure. 

"I'll see if we can fit you in," the kid said stiffly. Then he walked back into the office, leaving Jaz standing there leaning on his bike in the middle of the yard. 

Jaz crossed his arms over his chest and waited patiently.

*

Inside the garage, Jax and Opie were the only two working that day. Business had been a little slow and there wasn't any need for everyone to be there, so the rest of the club was out doing a charity run with Clay, leaving Jax, Opie and Half-Sack to keep the garage going.

"So what's the deal with you and Hale?" Opie asked, glancing across the garage at Jax. "Since when are the two of you so buddy-buddy anyway?" 

He wasn't jealous – no, jealousy definitely wasn't the right word for what he felt – but maybe he was trying to figure out why the hell his self-proclaimed best friend was suddenly spending so much time with the fucking cops. If it was Unser, maybe it would make sense 'cause he was on their side and he worked for them when they needed him to. But why the fuck would Jax need to hang out with a self-righteous asshole like _Hale_? The guy had a fucking stick up his ass about the law, acting like he was personally offended just 'cause somebody did something he didn't like. He was a dick and Jax didn't need to have anything to do with him. Opie didn't understand why Jax would willingly spend time with him. 

Jax shrugged. "I'm just jerking him around a little," he said. "It's nothing, Ope, don't worry." He stuck his hands into his pockets and leaned against the wall, eyes trained on Opie. 

Was he really expecting Opie to believe that? "If you're just jerking him around I don't see why you're over there all the goddamn time. It doesn't look good for the club," Opie said. 

Rather than respond to that, Jax just rolled his eyes. 

A moment later, Half-Sack came walking into the garage. Both men noticed him right away, but he stood in the doorway silently for a moment looking unsure of himself. Finally, he spoke. "Hey, uh, there's a guy with a bike out front," he said. "Wants a tune up. Either of you available to do it for him? If not, I guess I can, but Gemma wanted me to finish cleaning up the office, too." He rubbed the back of his neck, looking nervously at Jax. 

Jax and Opie exchanged looks with each other. "Bike?" Jax asked. "He from a motorcycle club? The Mayans or somebody?" He looked ready to fight, and Opie wanted to tell him to calm down about it; he didn't know anything about this guy yet and it was stupid to just jump in like that, already mad. 

Half-Sack shrugged. "I don't think so," he said. "He doesn't have any patches or a jacket. I think he's just a regular old biker. Got a lot of tattoos, though." 

"I'll do it," Opie said. He didn't want to stand here with Jax having this stupid conversation anyway, and maybe doing a tune-up on somebody else's bike might bring his mind back to where it belonged instead of this anger at his friend.

The guy was sitting there with his bike helmet in his hands, dressed in jeans and a black vest. Half-Sack had been right – the guy's thick arms and broad chest were covered in tattoos, but he didn't have anything to indicate that he was part of a motorcycle club. Chances were good that he was just a guy who liked to ride motorcycles. The fact that he'd stopped at Teller-Morrow was interesting, though. 

"Nice bike," said Opie, nodding. "Half-Sack said you needed a tune-up?"

The other guy nodded. "Half-Sack? Hell of a nickname." His voice was deep and gravelly, but it seemed to fit him pretty well. 

Opie smirked at his question but chose not to answer. It wasn't his story to tell. 

He couldn't help noticing that the guy's side-bags were full, like he was set to travel for a couple days. Maybe that was why he didn't look familiar – he was from out of town. 

In the next moment, Opie's guess was confirmed when the guy spoke up, "I'm not from around here," he said, "I'm just passing through, but I've been riding all day and I'm kinda hungry. Do you know of any place to eat around here?" 

"There's a diner up the road," Opie said. "Couple of miles. Food's good, not too expensive. I can get Half-Sack to give you a lift while I start on the bike, if you want." He turned back toward the office, ready to holler for the prospect when the guy spoke up.

"I was thinking you could join me?" he asked.

Opie turned back to face him, surprised at the man's request. The man was watching him carefully, those blue eyes focused on him. Opie didn't know what to say. Was this guy flirting with him? He'd never been flirted with by a guy before. It was strange. "You want me to go with you?" 

The other guy nodded. "Just thought maybe we could sit and talk and you can tell me all about this cute little town you live in." 

How had he gotten closer without Opie noticing? Suddenly there was a lot less space between the two of them and Opie was wondering if this guy just didn't understand the concept of personal space.

Glancing back toward the office, he saw Jax standing in the doorway with his hands in his pockets. He was watching the two of them with suspicion pointed at the new guy. 

Opie swallowed. "Hey, Jax, you wanna take the bike into the garage? I'm going to give, uh –" He turned back to the guy, hoping to get his name.

"Jaz Hoyt," he supplied. 

"Jaz?" Opie asked. "I'm going to give Jaz a ride to get something to eat, said he's been riding for a couple hours and he's hungry." Since when he was so damn charitable anyway?

Jax eyed him for a minute, but then he smiled. "Sure thing, Ope."

*

The food was good, but Jaz was more interested in the guy's lips. His name, apparently, was Harry Winston but everybody called him Opie, and he had the softest looking lips Jaz had ever had the pleasure of looking at.

Those lips were also most likely lying to him. "We're just guys that like to ride," he said, responding to Jaz's request to know more about the Sons of Anarchy. 

Jaz pretended to buy the story, even if he could tell from the tone of the voice that he was lying. If he didn't want to be honest, Jaz wasn't going to push him – not yet, anyway. Maybe after they'd slept together he could figure out the truth.

Because they were definitely going to sleep together before he left this place. Jaz was sure of it, more sure than he'd been of anything else in his entire life. Over-confidence had always been Jaz's problem – well, that and his temper, but ten years in the big house had dampened that part of him. 

"You dating anybody?" Jaz asked finally, in his most blatant attempt at flirting in a long time. Damn, ten years behind bars had made him a little rusty in that regard. In Oz, if you needed to get laid, flirting was definitely not required because there were plenty of guys willing to give you what you needed in exchange for – well, whatever you had to offer. 

Opie didn't answer for what seemed like the longest time. He was probably trying to figure out how to answer the question, but Jaz had already figured that Opie wasn't seeing anybody. If he had been, he would've given the answer right off and wouldn't have to think about it. No, he was trying to decide whether he wanted to tell Jaz the truth or whether he was going to be coy about it.

"No," he said finally. "Not seeing anybody."

Jaz grinned. "Good." And then his eyes flicked back to Opie's lips. He was going to get a taste of that mouth soon enough if he played his cards right.


	2. Moving In

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jax wants to know what business Jaz has in Charming, and meanwhile Jaz finds a temporary place to stay.

**Chapter Two: Moving In**

"Look, we don't have any idea who this guy is," said Jax. "I think you should check him out." He looked pointedly at David. "I bet he's got a record somewhere. I mean the guy looked like the kind of guy who’s probably done time for assault. I don't know what he wants with Opie, but I don't like it."

David sighed. "Just because somebody rides into town doesn't mean they're out to take out SAMCRO, Jax. You're making a big deal out of this." He didn't like that Jax was standing up while he was sitting down; it made him feel powerless and not in the way that he liked.

"Just do a search, okay?" Jax said. "All I want is a little intel on this guy. That's all I need." He tilted his head just a little bit to the side like he was trying to imitate a puppy. He was the furthest thing from a puppy, in David's opinion. A panther or a tiger, maybe.

"What did you say his name was again?" David really didn't want to do this, but he also didn't want to say no to Jax. "I'll see what I can do, but it's not the first thing on my priority list." That was a lie, too. He'd do it first thing after Jax left, just so he could get it out of the way. He wanted to stop spending so much time with Jax, but on the other hand he didn't want to stop what went on between them.

"Jaz Hoyt. And I don't got any idea where he's from. Opie didn't say much about him, but I don't like it," Jax said, shaking his head. "When they were out to lunch, I checked his bags and he was all packed up like he was planning on staying a while, but he told Half-Sack and Opie that he was just here for a couple days. I don't know what he's on the run from, but it can't be a good sign." 

That just made David feet a little sorry for the guy. Maybe he was just in town for a couple days, but Jax was acting like the guy planned on stealing Opie away or taking SAMCRO down all on his own. "All right. I'll check in on it, but like I said, this isn't a priority for me." 

Nodding, Jax stood up and stretched, arms raised above his head as he yawned. The hem of his t-shirt rose as well, revealing his muscular abs. 

David swallowed hard, unable to tear his eyes away. Jax had always had a nice body, even in high school, but now – even just that little glimpse made it hard for David to control himself. The urge to run his hands over Jax's chest was strong. He wanted to lick the sweat off Jax's muscles, to kneel in front of Jax and worship the other man's body. 

When his eyes travelled north, he realized that Jax had been watching him, amused. 

"See anything you like, Deputy?" asked Jax, lowering his arms. He tugged his shirt back into place but continued to grin at David. Then he leaned forward across the desk again and lowered his voice before saying, "I don't think you could handle this even if you wanted to." He winked.

Then, before David could come up with a defense for why he'd been staring at Jax's abs like he wanted to eat him alive, Jax stood up straight again. "Nice talking to you, Deputy. Let me know when you get that info about our new visitor." 

Once again, he sauntered out of the office, leaving David sitting there and wondering whether he was ever going to be able to get over these feelings. He had a feeling that he'd be stuck feeling this way for a long time. The fact that Jax seemed to be aware of David's inappropriate sexual feelings and didn't seem offended or bothered by them was not helping. In fact, it seemed like Jax was actually happy that David was staring at him. What did that mean? 

David shook his head. He was reading far too much into this. It didn't mean anything. Jax didn't know how he felt. He was just fucking around like he always did. But he didn't have any clue what was going on inside David's head. 

Now, though, David had to get that information on Jaz Hoyt. He doubted he'd find anything interesting, but because Jax had asked him to, he was going to do the search.

*

After his lunch with Opie, Jaz got his bike back from the big blond guy at the shop and headed off to find a motel for his temporary quarters.

The guy at the front desk of the motel he finally found made sure to tell him of all the amenities that came free with his room. Cable television! A variety of Pay-Per-View channels (which Jaz knew just meant "porn")! Continental breakfast until eleven! And of course, free wireless Internet access! The desk clerk had really played up that last one as though it were the best part of the motel. Well, what the hell was Jaz going to do with Internet access? He didn't even have a computer!

Nevertheless, he thanked the desk guy and took the key. His room ended up being around back in the corner, but that was all right, because it meant his bike was mostly out of sight of the road. 

It didn't take him long to move his things into the room because he really didn't have all that much that he'd brought with him. He'd only taken the basics when he left – a couple changes of clothes, his money of course, basic necessities like a toothbrush, and the prepaid cell phone that he'd bought just before he skipped town.

The clothes went into the dresser, the toothbrush in the bathroom and his phone was plugged into the charger in the wall. According to the display on the phone's screen, he was almost out of minutes, but he wasn't exactly sure how to do that. When he'd bought the phone, the kid at the electronics store had done all of that for him. 

Jaz was shit with technology. He'd been terrible at technology even before he'd gotten arrested, but when he'd gotten out of prison, everything had changed so drastically that now he had no idea where to begin with anything. Wireless internet and smart phones and Facebook all had him confused.

After he put everything away, Jaz took a short nap that ended up lasting most of the afternoon. When he rose, the sun had descended in the sky and Jaz's stomach suggested it was time for food. 

Rather than order in, he decided that it might be nice to find a grocery store or a gas station where he could stock up on non-perishables for the motel room, seeing as he'd be staying in town for a little while. He took his wallet and locked up the room before heading off again. 

He found a convenience store a couple miles up the road and when he pulled up, he saw another bike parked on the other side of the parking lot. That was interesting, but it didn't necessarily mean it belonged to any of the guys he'd met so far. The way Opie talked, it sounded like the club was fairly large. The bike could belong to anybody.

Jaz took his time picking out things he could keep at the motel, including the two most important food groups – chips and beer. That was the kind of stuff he'd missed when he'd been on the inside. All they'd had to eat in Oz was healthy shit like apples and sandwiches. 

There was a display by the beer cooler with a bunch of phone cards on it, and Jaz spotted the one that looked like it went with his phone. 

How the fuck was he supposed to know what to buy? Twenty bucks for an hour of phone time? Was that a lot? How long was an hour going to last him? He didn't make a lot of phone calls, but there was always a chance that things could change. If he ended up settling here for longer, he'd need to start looking for a job and the phone would come in handy.

Movement from the corner of his eye drew Jaz's gaze up and he found Opie standing a couple of doors down, surveying the beer coolers with intense concentration. Jaz grinned to himself and approached, standing as closely as he could without actually touching the other guy. 

"Hey," he said. "Can I ask you a question?"

Opie looked up, obviously startled that Jaz had approached without him noticing. "Uh, I guess so," he said. He was eyeing Jaz like he didn't know quite what to think.

Well, that was good. He wanted to keep Opie on his toes. "Do you have any idea how these things work?" he asked, holding up the phone card he'd taken off the display. "I have one of these pay-as-you-go phones, but I can never figure out how to put the minutes on it or anything. I suck at this kinda thing," he admitted. It was another lousy attempt at flirtation – more like something a chick would do – but Jaz was still trying to figure out the best way to draw this guy in. He didn't know him well enough to know what would work. 

Opie continued to look at him as though he didn't believe Jaz's motives. "Uh, yeah, I mean I can probably figure it out," he said. "There's usually directions on the back." He took the card from Jaz's hands and flipped it around, pointing to the tiny print down at the bottom.

"They expect me to be able to read that shit?" Jaz scoffed, rolling his eyes. 

"Guess so," Opie said. "But I can help you if you want. I just gotta pick up a couple things first." 

Jaz nodded. "That would be sweet, thanks. I can wait for you outside?" he suggested. 

"Okay." 

He left Opie to his beer purchase and went to go pay for the rest of his stuff. He had to say, he'd done a pretty good job of roping the guy in so far. It seemed like Opie was the kind that wouldn't admit to having an interest in men even if he was in bed with one. And Jaz could deal with that. 

After he paid for his shit, Jaz went out to his bike and started packing his stuff in while he waited for Opie. He took a look at the directions on the phone card, and while he could read them if he squinted, it didn't make much sense. Maybe if he'd had better experience with this kinda thing. 

"Hey, what the fuck is this?" 

Jaz heard the voice but didn't realize that he was being spoken to until somebody grabbed his arm roughly. He looked up to see two Hispanic guys standing in front of him, the bigger of the two being the one squeezing his forearm with a grip that was tight enough to snap necks.

"You wanna lay off, asshole?" Jaz asked, barely containing his anger. He didn't know who these guys were, but he didn't like them grabbing him like that when he'd been standing there. 

"This is Mayan territory," said the guy that wasn't grabbing him. He looked pretty pissed.

"Your point?" 

"SAMCRO has no business here," the guy told him angrily. 

"Look, I ain't got a fuckin’ clue what the fuck you're talking about," Jaz said, "but if you don't get your boy to get his fucking dirty hands off me, you're gonna have some broken ribs to deal with." He hadn't been out of prison so long that he'd forgotten how to fight. In fact, he was kind of looking forward to kicking some ass. 

"You got nothing better to do than harass strangers, Alvarez?" called Opie's voice coming from behind them. He approached, arms crossed over his chest as he glared. 

Jaz suddenly became aware of how much bigger than him Opie was. 

"Alvarez?" asked Jaz. "You ain't related to Miguel Alvarez, are you?" 

The guy stared at Jaz for a minute and then glanced over at Opie. "You know this is Mayan territory. You SAMCRO guys need to stay away." 

He still didn't know what was going on, but the big guy still hadn't let go of his arm, so Jaz decided to take matters into his own hands. With the guy distracted by the conversation between Opie and his buddy, Jaz made a move for the guy's wrist and pried it off, taking no time at all to wrench his arm behind his back. "Keep your fuckin' hands off me, asshole," he growled.

But the instant he'd grabbed the big guy, Alvarez drew a gun and pointed it at Jaz's head.

Jaz had forgotten that little detail about this kind of fighting on the outside; in prison there usually weren't any guns. He let go, holding his hands up in a defensive position. "Jesus, what the fuck is the weapon for? You gonna shoot me?" 

"We're gone, Alvarez," said Opie. "Put the gun down. He's got nothing to do with the club." 

There was a tense moment when everybody was staring at each other, but then Alvarez lowered his gun. "I don't want to see you here again," he said. He tucked the gun back into his jacket and gestured for his buddy to follow as he left. 

"The fuck was that?" Jaz asked Opie. 

Opie shook his head. "It's nothing. Do you want me to help you with the phone or not?"

*

It didn't take long for David to find information on Jaz Hoyt, and as soon as he'd found what he was looking for, he dialed up the number Jax had given him.

He answered the phone on the second ring. "Hale? What'd you find out about our visitor?" he asked, without any pretext at all. 

David sighed. "You're probably not gonna like this too much," he began, "but Jaz Hoyt? He just got out of prison a couple months ago. He was doing time for aggravated assault," he said. "He spent ten years behind bars." 

"No shit!"

He couldn't tell whether that was a good "no shit!" or a bad one, so he waited.

"Do you think Opie knows him from prison?" Jax asked. 

"Not likely. This guy's from the Northeast. Don't know what the hell he's doing out here, though."

Jax let out a breath. "I checked his bags when he was out with Opie. The guy's packed up like he's staying for a while. He brought his fuckin’ toothbrush, Hale." 

"I don't know what you want me to do about it. He's not breaking any laws," David pointed out. 

There was another sigh from Jax's end. "I just want him away from Ope," he said. "I'll think of something. Just – keep an eye out, okay? If he did time for assault, he'll probably do it again." 

Before David could tell Jax he had better things to do than watch out for the guy, the dial tone was ringing in his ear. He shook his head and hung his phone up as well. He knew he'd do it, though, for Jax. And that was the trouble, wasn't it?


	3. Secrets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jax and Deputy Hale have an awkward conversation. Meanwhile, Jaz finally gets Opie to agree to dinner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to warn for spoilers for Season 2 events that are mentioned in this chapter. It's a major event but only mentioned briefly, though it's still important to warn for it.  
> However, most of Season 2's plot revolving around Zobelle is not mentioned here. 
> 
> I also want to say thanks to [jessthemesslol](http://jessthemesslol.tumblr.com) on Tumblr for beta-reading for me! She's doing a great job!

**Chapter Three: Secrets**

 

"If you want me to help you on this, you have to be honest with me," said Hale. He looked over Jax's shoulder like he thought maybe he'd get caught and fired just for talking with him. The fact that they were hanging out in the alley like a couple of gangsters wasn't helping matters. It had been Hale's idea to meet somewhere other than the police station and Jax had gone along with it because he really didn't give a shit either way, but he didn't know why Hale was so fucking twitchy.

Sighing, Jax said, "Look, I don't know nothing about what the Mayans are up to, and that's the truth." Business with the Mayans had been running smoothly as far as he understood it, but of course with Clay treating Jax like he was an irrational teenager, maybe there was something his step-father was hiding from him. "Why are you asking me anyway?" he asked. 

Hale shrugged and wouldn't look him in the eye. "I gotta get back to work. Unser's going to say something if my lunch break goes on too long." Then his eyes flicked briefly to Jax's chest, the lust just barely concealed. After a moment of that, he seemed to remember himself and he started past Jax.

"Wait a second," said Jax, grabbing Hale's wrist. "What the fuck was that look?"

"Let go of me," Hale demanded, but he didn't pull away, just narrowed his eyes, thick brows drawn together like he thought giving Jax a nasty look was going to do any good.

"Not 'til you tell me why you keep staring at me like that," Jax said calmly. "You want something from me, David?" As soon as he said Hale's first name, Jax saw the cop's shoulders stiffen, his mouth set into a firm line, but he still didn't speak.

It was quiet between the two of them for a long moment, both of them staring at each other but nobody saying anything. Jax thought about making a move, maybe pushing Hale against the dirty brick wall and seeing how he'd react to Jax's mouth on his neck and Jax's hand down his pants, but before he could do anything, the sound of a motorcycle engine revving startled them both. Jax let go of Hale's wrist.

Having been released, Hale headed for the entry to the alley again.

"This conversation ain't over," promised Jax, speaking to Hale's back as he left. He waited to see if the cop would acknowledge that, but he didn't even flinch.

Jax had parked his bike on the street, a couple yards from the alley where they'd met. When he walked out to his bike, he saw Opie's bike parked next to it with Opie himself sitting on the bike, his helmet in his hands. 

"Hey, Ope," said Jax casually. "What's up?" He wasn't sure how much his friend had seen, but judging by the way he was glaring at Jax, he'd probably seen too much. 

"Just jerking him around?" asked Opie. "Looked like you guys were pretty close, if you ask me." His tone of voice was neutral, but Jax knew his friend was pissed. "I don't know what the hell you're doing anymore, Jax. This thing between you and Clay, and now Hale's your new best friend?" he said.

"It's nothing, Opie, and Hale isn't my new best friend, Jesus," Jax said. "What's the problem, anyway? This isn't really about Hale, is it? Something else bothering you?" He wanted to tell Opie what he'd found out about that heavily tattooed biker, Hoyt, but now really wasn't the time to bring it up. That ammunition would be saved for another fight.

Instead of giving Jax an answer, Opie just sighed. "Forget it," he said, pulling his helmet on. "Let's go." 

Jax chose not to argue the point, knowing it'd come up again later. There were more important things to worry about right now – like what the fuck was up with the Mayans, or why his mom and Tara seemed to be getting along so well, or whether Hale actually wanted Jax as much as it seemed like he did. His bets on that last one were leaning toward yes, but he'd find out for sure soon enough. He just needed the right time and place to make his move.

*

Jaz had been surprised at how quickly Opie'd given up his phone number. The big guy clearly had at least some interest in Jaz, even if he was trying to convince himself otherwise. It was kind of interesting to watch him struggle with those thoughts, though Jaz didn't envy him that. A sexual identity crisis was a tough thing to go through; Jaz remembered the first time he'd had feelings for a man. It had been an older guy – a biker, of course, which just went to show that he had a type. He'd learned a lot from that first relationship, and Jaz didn't mind taking on that role with Opie if he had to.

Right now, though, he had to get his foot in the door. 

He called Opie. 

After the customary greetings and the small talk, Jaz jumped right into it. "You available for dinner later this week?" 

There was silence from Opie's end for a moment, but since he hadn't given a straight "no," Jaz wasn't calling it a strike out just yet. "This week? When?" There was a pause and then, "I didn't know you were still in town." 

"Yeah, well I got a couple more days before I move on." The lie came smoothly enough, perhaps maybe because it could be the truth. Jaz didn't know when he was going to be leave. "How's Friday for you?" He didn't want to admit to Opie that his whole week was free. It wasn't like he had a lot of other shit to add to his calendar. 

"Friday?" Opie sounded unsure. "What time?" Before Jaz could answer that, though, Opie spoke up again. "No, I – I can't do Friday," he said. "This is a bad idea. I can't do dinner."

"What about Thursday?" asked Jaz.

There was a sigh from Opie's end. "I have shit going on that day," he said. "Look, Jaz, thanks for the offer, but I can't do it. Sorry." At least he actually sounded sorry.

"You have no free time at all?" asked Jaz, deliberately ignoring the other meaning to Opie's comments, the rejection that was lurking behind his words. 

"I wouldn't be able to find anybody to watch the kids," Opie said finally. "And I'm not – I don't date guys," he added.

Jaz was too stuck on the "kids" part of the sentence to have any comment about the other part. "You have kids?" he asked, sounding more incredulous than he should have. "Fuck, seriously? I thought you weren't dating anybody," he added, but he couldn't remember seeing a wedding band, either. Was he divorced, maybe?

"I'm not dating anybody," confirmed Opie. "My wife –" He stopped. "Their mother is dead." There was a long pause, and then he said, "You seem like a nice guy, but I'm not interested."

Jaz knew he should have accepted that answer and moved on. All he wanted to do was sleep with the guy, but kids? A dead wife? Way more fucking baggage than he could handle, especially when his own life wasn't all that stable. Despite all the signs pointing to "this is a bad idea!" Jaz found himself saying, "I could pay for a babysitter." 

There was yet another sigh, but it sounded like Opie might have been caving. "You don't have to pay for a fucking babysitter. Gemma might be able to watch them for a couple hours on Friday. But it's just one dinner and I'm paying for myself," Opie said.

Jaz was happy enough that Opie had finally agreed that he didn't bother arguing that Opie wasn't paying for shit. "Friday, good," he said, grinning like an idiot. He could do a lot in a couple hours. "Well, you're the local. Do you know any good places to eat around here?"

*

Opie hadn't wanted to eat anywhere in Charming, in case they got recognized – he didn't want this to get back to the club, especially not Jax. He also ruled out any place where bikers might hang out, so they ended up at a Friendly's, sitting in a plastic booth surrounded by families with hyperactive kids.

He was a little pleased to see that Jaz looked uncomfortable. The guy was all confidence when he was hitting on Opie, but put him near a screaming baby and he was lost. It was just giving Opie another reason why he needed to stop thinking about this guy once this dinner was over.

"Man, I haven't had a good burger in forever," said Jaz as he looked over the brightly-colored menu. "I guess this place doesn't serve beer." 

"It's a family restaurant," Opie reminded him. "There's no beer." 

Jaz grumbled something that sounded like, "Well, there should be," and went back to looking over the menu. He looked a little annoyed about it; maybe he wasn't having that much fun anyway. Maybe agreeing to the date – _dinner_ – had been a bad idea, but it was too late to change his mind now. 

Before Opie could start another line of conversation, the waitress showed up to take their order, and Jaz spent too long making sure that the waitress understood how he wanted his burger cooked. She started to look a little annoyed, and when she finally left to fill their order, Opie heard her sigh. 

"You come here a lot?" Jaz asked. "With your kids?"

Opie shrugged. "Sometimes." He didn't want to talk about his kids with this guy. He was still a relative stranger, and Opie didn't want to share intimate parts of his life with somebody that probably just wanted to sleep with him. 

Besides, hadn't Jaz said he was only staying in town for another week? There was no point in getting attached to somebody that was going to leave soon. 

"So how tall are you?" 

That question startled him a little bit. "Six four, last I checked."

"Fuck, you're huge!" Jaz exclaimed.

The woman at the table next to them had two small children sitting with her, and she turned to glare at Jaz for the obscenity he'd uttered. Jaz didn't seem to notice, too busy staring at Opie. 

"So why aren't you dating anybody?" was Jaz's next question. 

"Why are you so nosy?" countered Opie. 

Jaz didn't have a ready answer for that, and a silence fell between them.

Friendly's was probably the least romantic place to eat outside of something like McDonald's, which was another reason why Opie had picked it. He didn't want this guy to get the wrong idea about what was going on here. 

_But if you didn't want him to get the wrong idea_ , whispered a voice in the back of his head, _why'd you agree to dinner in the first place?_ There was no easy answer to that question – at least none that he was happy about. He'd been attracted to men before – rarely, but it had happened. Jax was the most memorable example of that, and Opie still wasn't entirely over it. So the issue wasn't being attracted to a guy. No, the problem was _this_ man, this bad-boy biker with too many tattoos, who didn't like family restaurants and preferred to ask Opie questions instead of answering them himself. He was the wrong man for Opie, and it should have been easier to say no to him. 

When he looked up, he saw Jaz's eyes fixed on him – on his mouth specifically, and Opie wasn't too stupid to know what that meant. Jaz didn't understand subtlety, apparently. Still, it was flattering to know that somebody was attracted to him, that Jaz couldn't get enough of him. It was kinda hot.

"So when do you have to be home?" Jaz asked. "Too bad you couldn't get somebody to watch the kids overnight," he added, and then winked in case Opie missed the blatant hint.

"I told Gemma I'd be back by ten," Opie answered, ignoring Jaz's innuendos. He didn't want the man to think it was working, and he sure as hell didn't want to give Jaz the impression that Opie was the kind of guy to put out on the first date. But this wasn't a date, anyway, and he wasn't going to sleep with Jaz now or ever. "When did you say you were leaving town?" Opie asked, changing the subject.

Jaz shrugged. "Things happen." He reached over to his wrist and started fiddling with the black cuff bracelet there, unsnapping it from his wrist and curling it around in his hands. It didn't take a genius to see there was something about this line of conversation making him nervous. 

"Tell me about your ink," said Opie. "That's a lot of tattoos." 

That was clearly the topic Jaz enjoyed, because he put the cuff back on his wrist and looked back up at Opie. "I'm covered in ink," he said. "If we weren't in a public place, I could show you all of 'em, but I guess a little mystery is good." He winked. Then he started telling Opie about the various tattoos and where he'd got them, though some he refused to talk about, skipping over them in favor of others. 

As Jaz continued to talk, Opie listened intently, not because he was all that interested in the origins of Jaz's ink, but because it was obviously something the other man was passionate about, and Opie liked seeing him excited. He found himself leaning forward across the table, forgetting about his half-eaten burger in favor of watching Jaz roll up his sleeves to show Opie the tattoos he had on his upper arm. Opie was enthralled.

When Jaz looked up at him, there was a challenge in his eyes as he said to Opie, "You can touch it." His rough, gravelly voice seemed to have a hint of seduction. 

Opie knew it was stupid. He had tattoos of his own and he knew what it felt like. Tattooed skin felt just like regular skin. Still, he reached out, brushing his fingertips over the flaming skull tattooed on Jaz's upper arm. And Opie knew that whole thing about "sparks" was a romance novel idea that only women believed, but Opie could've sworn there was a jolt of _something_ when he touched Jaz. Judging by the way the other man was looking at him, he must have felt it, too. Opie didn't know what to say. 

"Were you gentlemen planning on ordering dessert tonight?" asked their waitress, who had appeared out of thin air. She looked at Opie expectantly.

Realizing he was still practically groping Jaz, Opie moved his hand away and sat back. "No, I think we're good. But can I take the rest of my meal wrapped up to go?" He could pack that up for lunch tomorrow and save himself a little money. 

She dropped off the check and went to get them a takeout container, leaving the two of them sitting together in awkward silence. 

Jaz grabbed the check before Opie could get a look at it. "You're a cheap date," he told Opie as he pulled some money out of his wallet and put it with the bill. He refused when Opie offered him money to pay for his half of the meal. "You can pay next time," Jaz told him with a wink.

After the waitress returned with the Styrofoam takeout box, Opie packed up the rest of his food and they left the restaurant together. Opie's truck and Jaz's bike were parked next to each other at the far end of the parking lot, where it was dark and quiet. 

Opie unlocked his truck and put the leftovers in the passenger seat. He was ready to drive back home, but Jaz was standing there waiting and Opie knew he couldn't leave yet. He turned to face Jaz, wondering what the hell he should say or do.

Before he could think of anything more creative than "thanks", Jaz's hands were on his shoulders, pushing Opie back against the truck. There was a brief moment when they were both just looking at each other and then Jaz stepped in closer, pressing up against Opie. Jaz slid one hand up to the back of Opie's neck as he leaned up to kiss Opie on the mouth.

It was easy for Opie to kiss him back, tilting his head just so and bending down just enough to make it easier for the both of them. His hands rested on Jaz's waist, and except for the feel of Jaz's facial hair, it wasn't much different from kissing a woman.

But then Jaz canted his hips and Opie could feel the other man's erection pushing against his leg. This was _nothing_ like kissing a woman, especially not when the kiss ended and Opie found himself looking at the very masculine face of Jaz Hoyt.

Jaz grinned at him. "Have a nice night, Opie," he said, and went to climb on his bike.

After he roared off down the road, Opie got into his truck, sitting there staring through the windshield into the darkness. There was no way he could deny his attraction to Jaz any longer. Now what was he going to do about it?


	4. With Your Back to the Wall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jax and David have a "talk."

**Chapter Four: With Your Back to the Wall**

While David went about his business that week, he could not get Jax's words or the way Jax had looked at him out of his head. _This conversation ain't over_ – that was a threat, wasn't it? David didn't want to finish the fucking conversation because whatever Jax had to say about it would be something that he didn't want to hear. He was surprised Jax hadn't tried to beat him up yet. 

Jax had called him a couple of times over the week, but David had ignored the phone calls. He would have preferred never seeing Jax again, but the likelihood of that happening was rare. 

A knock came at his office door, startling David out of his thoughts, and he looked up in time to see Chief Unser pushing the door open. "I was hoping to catch you before you left," he said, "but I thought you would've gone home an hour ago, Hale." He raised his eyebrows, curious. 

David shrugged and glanced at the clock. He _should_ have gone home an hour ago, but he'd gotten caught up in his thoughts and lost track of time. He pushed back from the desk and stood up. "Just gotta clean up and then I'll head home," he said, looking down at the mess of paperwork on top of his desk.

"Well, since you're still here," Unser said, nodding, "I got Jax Teller out front looking for you. Can I send him in?" Unser asked, looking at David like he was trying to see through him and inside his head to figure out what was going on in there. 

Though he wanted to say no, David knew that Jax could just wait outside for him to leave the building and he'd catch David that way. If they were going to have a serious conversation – and he was sure that was what it was going to end up being – David wanted to have it in a private place rather than somewhere Jax could make a scene if he wanted to. David wasn't even entirely sure what Jax was going to say or do, but he doubted it was going to be very good for him. "You can send him in," he told Unser. 

Unser nodded, but he still had that look on his face like he was trying to read David's mind. After a long moment of that, he seemed to get the answer he wanted and he left, closing the door behind him.

As he waited for Jax to come in, David tried to tell himself that it would have nothing to do with the inner turmoil he'd been suffering. He tried to convince himself that there was no way Jax knew what David thought about him in the privacy of his own head. But he couldn't lie to himself as he remembered the knowing look on Jax's face when they'd had that conversation in the alley. Jax knew, all right.

He heard the door open and then click shut. For a moment, David was too afraid to look up because he didn't want to see the expression on Jax's face. 

"You've been avoiding me, Deputy Hale," said Jax, his voice enough to draw David's eyes upward so he was finally looking into that intense gaze.

"I'm not avoiding anybody," said David. "But I got a job that I have to do, and it doesn't involve being at your beck and call, Teller." He didn't know what it was about Jax that brought out the teenager in him, but David found himself wanting to tell him that they shouldn't hang out together because his dad wouldn't like it. It felt like high school all over again, but this time there were no girls to fight over.

"This ain't got nothin' to do with me needing you to do shit for me," said Jax. He kept his hands tucked in the pockets of his pants as he continued to pin David with his harsh and penetrative gaze. Jax was too observant for his own good; there was no way he missed what was going on in David's head. "This is about you and what you want from me," Jax insisted. 

David tried to relax, but his mind was churning, trying to work out Jax's angle in all this. There was no way his motives in making that comment were pure; this was Jax Teller for fuck's sake, and he was clearly looking for a way to fuck Hale over. "What I want is for you to stop bothering me, and SAMCRO to stop causing trouble in Charming. You know, if I could just do my job, then I'd be a happy man," he told Jax sharply. "Now if you'll excuse me, I don't have time to be sitting here having vague and cryptic conversations with you." Then he sighed a little, picking up a stack of papers off his desk and straightening them. 

Jax didn't leave. He didn't even head for the door, instead choosing to remain standing in front of David's desk, watching him with a frustrating calm. "You know," said Jax finally, "when we were in high school, I always thought it was Tara you wanted. But I was wrong, wasn't I? Looks like you were batting for the other team this whole time." He picked up the stapler from David's desk and looked at it as though he had never seen such a thing before. 

For a long moment, David didn't know how to respond. In this situation, honesty didn't seem like the best policy for him, even if Jax had already hit the nail on the head. "I did... have feelings for Tara," admitted David. "But she was always going to be yours. I never had any doubt about that." That much was true, at least, though he knew it wasn't the answer that Jax wanted from him. 

"Just tell me what you want, David, and I'll give it to you," insisted Jax. "I'm not blind and I ain't stupid. I know how you stare, and I know that Mr. Clean and Innocent cop likes it dirty. If I wanted to shame you about it, don't you think I would've done it already?" he asked. He put the stapler down and came around the desk, closer to David. His eyes were hungry, his stance predatory.

The air in the room seemed to thicken, and David found his chest tightening, breath caught in his throat as the reality of the situation hit him. He should have called for help, gotten somebody to remove Jax from the room. He should have gone home an hour ago and none of this would have happened in the first place. Instead, he just stepped backward, away from Jax and away from the urges that threatened to consume him. 

Undeterred, Jax stepped closer to David, trapping him against the wall. He put a hand on either side of David's body and gave him a slow, sensual smile. "I ain't doing shit until you tell me this is something you want, David." He spoke the name in a husky tone, deeper than David had heard him speak before. "What do you want me to do?" He slid his lower body close enough so that he was pressing into David, his erection just as hard as David's was. He wanted this, too.

Closing his eyes, David took a deep breath and tried to convince his brain that this was a very bad idea. He needed to push Jax away. He needed to go home and have a stiff drink to forget about all this. If he let Jax get the best of him, there was no way this was going to end well for him. 

In the next moment, though, Jax's hand slid between their bodies and he cupped his palm over the bulge in David's khakis, putting the smallest amount of pressure on him, to let David know he meant business. 

Unable to stop himself, David moaned. Then he opened his eyes, staring straight into Jax's. He wanted to say no. He fully intended to say no, but then he found his hands reaching to cup Jax's face, pulling him closer and crashing their mouths together in a kiss that was rough and dominant and completely animalistic. 

Jax responded immediately, pressing himself closer and grabbing David's waist with rough hands, gripping hard enough to bruise as he kissed back just as roughly. 

The brutality of it stirred David even more, had him yearning for the worst kind of abuse from Jax's hands. He wanted the punishment to hurt, but he couldn't bring himself to do anything other than hold Jax close as he continued to kiss as though it was the only thing keeping him alive.

The fact that Jax seemed to know exactly what David wanted – what he needed – had not escaped him. Why was it that this one man knew him so well, after all these years, that David didn't even have to speak and yet Jax knew how to make him respond, how to make him press forward, wanting more and more and –

Just like that, contact was lost, and David found himself standing there, heart racing as Jax eyed him from several feet away. Jax was giving him an out, and if he was smart, he would take it. "I –" he began, but he couldn't finish the sentence, couldn't bring himself to say 'I don't want this' because they both knew damn well it wasn't true. He wasn't fooling Jax and he wasn't fooling himself. 

Jax grinned at him. "How's that, Deputy?" he asked. "Bit different from the last time you got laid in here, huh?" 

For a moment, David was too confused to respond, but then he remembered Agent Stahl and almost blushed. That seemed like years ago, but he couldn't help drawing parallels to his current situation. Stahl and Jax had a lot in common, and maybe that was David's problem. He was attracted to the wrong kinds of people – he was attracted to dominance and power and strength, and all too often, that led to dangerous consequences. 

Before David could catch his breath and say anything, Jax had walked over to the door and locked it from the inside. "Okay, Hale, let's see the goods. Been a long time since the high school locker room," he said with a grin. With his eyes fixed on David, Jax stripped out of his vest and t-shirt, dropping them on the floor unceremoniously. He'd started in on his pants before he realized that David wasn't doing anything and he stopped. "What's the hold up?" he asked. "Let's do this."

David didn't like what the moment had turned into – from a raw, animalistic crashing of bodies to – unromantic stripping? Watching Jax take his clothes off was sexy, but he didn't like how domestic it felt, like a husband and wife getting ready for scheduled sex. He'd been hoping for more clothes being torn off, for Jax to bend him over the desk and fuck him until he couldn't take it anymore. But he couldn't say that without ruining the moment even more, and doing so would just be admitting to Jax more than he felt comfortable saying out loud.

But he had underestimated the other man, because in the next instant, Jax was up in his space again, crowding David against the wall. "Is that how you want to play, David?" Jax asked, eyebrows raised. He smirked and grabbed David's wrists, pressing them into the wall above David's head as he sucked a hickey onto the other man's neck. "We'll do it your way then," he whispered into David's ear.

Jax shifted to hold both David's wrists in one hand, using his other hand to reached between them and work the belt loose on David's pants. It didn't take him long to get his pants open, and when Jax reached in front to take David's cock in his hand, David nearly lost it right then and there.

"There it is," breathed Jax. "You want it, don't you?" he asked. "Tell me what you want, David. You want this?" He stroked David's cock a couple times, teasingly, drawing a moan from David's mouth.

"Fuck," said David. "Just do it, fuck." He couldn't take the games anymore. The teasing was killing him; having something he wanted so close and Jax was just taking his fucking time. "Just –" he gasped as Jax pumped him against. "Fuck me," he said roughly. He froze the instant the words left his mouth, realizing immediately what he was asking for. 

_Oh shit._

Jax huffed out a laugh. "You're a real fucking dirty one, aren't you, Hale?" he asked. Without waiting for an answer, he released David's wrists and his cock. "Turn around," Jax said sharply, placing his hands on David's hips to help with the process. 

With his back to Jax, David pressed his palms into the wall, feeling slightly ridiculous for being in such a blatant position, especially when Jax started working David's pants down. They dropped into a pile at his feet, and he wanted to kick them off, but Jax wouldn't let him.

"You move when I say you can move," Jax ordered, fingers digging into David's sides. "If you want me to fuck you, then I'm going to fuck you." He pressed himself into David's back, mouth at David's ear as he whispered the next part. "I'm going to fuck you and you won't even be able to scream 'cause all your fucking cop buddies are in the building. What do you think about that?" 

And David couldn't find the words to answer, just shamelessly pushed his ass back against Jax. He couldn't wait anymore, his cock aching and his body electrified. He wanted this too much and he couldn't let himself think about how wrong it was; all he wanted was release.

*

Clay looked around the table and frowned. "Where's Jax?" he asked, and turned his gaze on Opie.

With a shrug, Opie said, "fuck if I know." He wasn't Jax's keeper anymore, but he had a pretty good idea of where his friend would be. He wasn't about to tell Clay that, though, knowing what kind of fight the father and son would get into if Clay found out how much time Jax had been spending with Deputy Hale. That’d be a train wreck. 

Clay rolled his eyes. "That kid's gonna have a lot to answer to for missing this meeting." he said. Then he sighed a little and moved on to the next topic.

Under the table, Opie pulled out his cell phone and sent off a quick message to Jax – _Where the fuck are you? Clay's pissed you're not at the meeting._

The message he got back a few minutes later was not from Jax, but from Jaz. 

_Looks like I'll be in town a little longer. Wanna get together again soon?_

He put his phone back into his pocket without responding. He was going to have to think about that one for a bit.


	5. Fightin' Words

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jax and Opie have a confrontation of sorts.

**Chapter Five: Fightin' Words**

Stupidly, Jax had believed that fucking Hale the one time would have been enough to get it out of his system. His itch had been scratched and that should have been the end of that. Jax figured he'd keep that as some kind of leverage against Hale in case he needed the cop on his side again soon. 

He never imagined that he'd be thinking about it a week later, remembering how it had felt when David grabbed him and kissed him, or how it had looked seeing the deputy posed against the wall like he was a fucking porn star, offering himself up to Jax like that. Hale had liked being abused like that and Jax couldn't get the memories out of his head. He ached to have that moment again, wanted another chance to run his hands over all that skin, push David against the wall and rough him up. 

He didn't know what he was going to do about it. What about the club? What about the way Opie looked at him these days, trying to figure out what the fuck was up with Jax and why he was spending so much time away from the rest of the club? What about Clay and the way he constantly bugged Jax about "the direction" he was going in with his life?

Everything was fucked up and he'd just made it worse by giving Hale what he'd wanted. He should have just backed off and left things the way they were, but there was no turning back now. Jax would have to figure out how to make the best of what had happened between them. He just hoped that Hale was smart enough to keep it between the two of them; Jax didn't want to have to explain to anybody why he was suddenly screwing guys – especially guys like Hale.

For now, though, Jax was supposed to be meeting at the clubhouse for some stupid meeting that Clay had set up. Supposedly the Mayans had been making threats and Clay wanted to talk about possible solutions so they could cut them off before they tried anything serious.

Jax thought it was all bullshit, but it brought his mind back to Hale, because hadn't David been bugging him about the Mayans a couple weeks ago? God, he really needed to get David out of his mind or he wasn't going to be able to focus on anything else. That would just give Clay something else to rag on him about, and he really didn't need that. 

"Fuck, Jax, you on another planet over there or what?" asked Bobby. "You okay?" He tilted his head a bit, looking at Jax with something akin to concern. 

Jax hated that fucking look, hated being looked at like he was about to go on a rampage at any moment. "I'm fine, Bobby," he said roughly. Then he looked around. "You seen Ope?" 

He'd gotten a text from Opie earlier about the meeting – to make sure that he would actually attend this one, since Jax had missed the last one when he was fucking Hale in his office – but that was all he'd heard from his friend that day, and maybe he was a little concerned.

It was possible that Opie was still hanging out with that tattooed biker guy. Jax had seen the biker around town a couple times, which meant that despite saying he was only going to be around for a few days, he had apparently decided to stick around for a lot longer. Jax didn't like that at all; he knew the guy had to be hiding something – something other than the whole being-in-jail thing – and he didn't like that Opie was possibly involved in whatever it was.

He was already losing his best friend over the shit with Clay and with Donna, and this shit with Jaz Hoyt was just one more nail in the coffin of their friendship. Everything was changing and Jax didn't like any of it one goddamn bit.

"Yeah, he was here earlier," said Bobby. "He went to run an errand for Clay but he'll be here for the meeting," he promised Jax.

Rather than say something about the fact that Opie was doing something for Clay – of course he was, the traitor – Jax just hiked the belt up on his pants and went into the clubhouse to wait. 

Tig and the prospect were at the bar, but Jax ignored them. Ever since the thing with Donna, Jax had a hard time even looking Tig in the face. How could he live with what he'd done? Didn't he even feel guilty over it? He could understand Clay being a heartless bastard over it, but when it was the both of them together – well, it just led Jax to believing that this club really did need change. 

Piney was already sitting at the table and Jax joined him, stretching himself out a little, cracking the kinks in his back as he thought about everything that had happened the past couple of weeks. There were a lot of things he wanted to say to Piney, but he couldn't think of where to start or whether the old guy even gave a shit about any of it.

"You know anything about that guy Opie's been hanging out with?" Jax asked him finally, figuring that was the best place to start. Maybe if he could get Piney on his side about Jaz, then Opie would be more willing to listen to reason.

"What guy?" asked Piney suspiciously. "I don't know a thing about what Opie does these days. Ain't got a clue what's going on with that boy."

It felt a little like tattling, but Jax couldn't help being kind of excited about being the one to tell Piney about it. He knew that he could get the old man on his side.

*

When Opie walked into the clubhouse, his dad and his supposed best friend were sitting together at the table, huddled together like they were suddenly best friends. He didn't like the looks of that, 'cause he knew the two of them together meant they were probably talking about him.

Instantly, his thoughts went to Jaz Hoyt and the kiss they'd shared in the Friendly's parking lot. There was no way they knew about that, right? But what if they knew and they were going to confront him about it? Opie felt his heart thump loudly in his chest.

"Speak of the devil," said Jax, that insufferable grin on his face. "You didn't tell your dad about your new best friend?" he asked, raising his eyebrows. "Your old man might think you don't trust him."

Opie sighed. "Fuck, Jax, what the hell is your problem? Jaz isn't my new best friend." He didn't know if Jax was just jealous of Jaz or what the deal was, but if Jax knew what Opie had actually done with the other guy – the dinner, the kiss, the dreams he'd been having – well, Jax probably wouldn't have been so jealous of that part. 

Jax scoffed. "I ain't stupid, Ope. What about when you had Gemma watch the kids so you could go out? You telling me you didn't meet that biker somewhere? What was that about, Opie? What the fuck need do you have for him? What do you talk to him about? Why don't you tell the rest of the fucking club about your new friend?" And Jax glanced over at Tig and Half-Sack and Juice who were standing at the bar, at Chibs who had just walked in and was standing next to Opie.

He was doing something, but fuck if Opie could tell what. "Why the hell do you care? Why is this such a fuckin' issue for you? If we're gonna talk about me, maybe we should talk about you and Hale." His heart pounded a little faster upon bringing up that point, but he wanted to shift the attention away from himself and back to Jax. 

There was also a part of him that was itching for a real fight. He was charged up with tension and he wanted to take it out on Jax. 

Jax didn't respond to that, instead breaking in with, "How much do you know about this guy anyway?" he asked Opie. "You know where he was before he came here? You know what he was doing? You got any idea about that guy's past? Do you even care?"

"Jax –" said Piney warningly. 

"You still haven't told me why you even give a shit about this. The guy has nothing to do with the club, and it ain't like I'm trying to get him to join. He has nothing to do with any of this shit," said Opie, but he wasn't sure that he wanted Jax to answer his question. 

The smirk on Jax's face told Opie that the other guy was hiding something that he was seconds away from revealing. "You wanna know where that guy came from before he came to Charming?" Without waiting for Opie to say anything, Jax told him. "He was in prison, Opie. In jail for ten goddamn years for aggravated assault because he beat up a guy in a video store. And this is the fucking guy you want to hang out with?" Jax asked.

Opie's heart thumped as two thoughts hit him about the same time – yes, Jax had gotten one up on him with the knowledge about Jaz having been in jail. That was a shock to him, but it seemed to fit pretty well with some of the comments Jaz had made toward him. He didn't see it as necessarily a bad thing, though, and why should it be? He'd been in prison himself before. 

But what really bothered Opie was the way in which Jax spoke about it – as though being in prison made somebody a bad person. So what if Jaz had gone to jail for beating somebody up? He'd served his time for it and that was that, right? 

Opie had been in prison and he'd served his time for his crime. Jax had never made a big deal out of that, so why was it so different with Jaz? Why was Jax so intent on making Jaz out to be the bad guy anyway? What did he have against the other biker?

"What's the big deal?" asked Opie. "It's just prison. I was in jail, too, or don't you remember that shit? Why don't you just fucking tell me why you don't like this guy and get it over with. Have you even talked to him? Do you even know anything about him or are you just pulling this out of your ass?" 

"What the hell are you two even fighting about?" asked Tig. He looked amused at what was going on, but of course he wasn't going to speak up or get involved in their fight. He'd rather watch and laugh.

Jax stood up from the table and walked around to meet Opie halfway.

Opie could feel the tension in the room growing between the two of them, and the rest of the club members were going to get caught in the crossfire if they didn't stop it. He didn't want them to stop it. He'd been feeling tense with Jax for a while and he knew the tension was going to come to a head. He'd rather let himself get it out of his system instead of sitting around and letting it get worse.

The two friends were standing face to face with only a bit of a space between them – barely enough room to breathe. Opie knew he was larger than Jax, but that didn't really mean anything, not when Jax could throw a good punch. 

"Gemma told me you had her watch the kids last week," said Jax, eyeing him. "So don't act like you ain't been hanging out with that guy." The look in his eyes challenged Opie to disagree with him.

Sighing, Opie said, "Maybe I had shit to do and didn't want to leave the kids at home alone. It's got nothing to do with Jaz." He wasn't about to tell everyone in the room that he'd been out on a date. No fuckin’ way was he going to have that conversation.

"I bet that was you I saw at Friendly's on Friday!" said Juice suddenly. "Thought I saw your truck there, but I didn't know if it was you. You were with some guy, but it was dark so I wasn't sure." Then he kind of looked at Opie, waiting for confirmation of what he'd seen. 

Opie wasn't sure how much Juice had seen, so he went straight to denial. "Must have been somebody else. I ain't been out to eat in a while." He shrugged and glanced over at Jax, who was watching with interest.

"That's what I thought," said Juice. "Because the guy that looked like you was getting pretty hot and heavy with another dude. And I didn't think you were into that kinda shit, Opie." And Juice looked at him almost knowingly, like maybe he knew what he'd seen and was milking it. 

Here was his chance to tell them. Juice had given him an opening to admit that, yeah, that was him kissing another dude. It could have been that easy. But Opie didn't know what kind of reactions they'd have. He couldn't bring himself to do it, not with everybody there watching him, waiting for Opie to fuck up. "Wasn't me," he said again. He left it at that, hoping Juice would leave it alone as well.

"How weird would it be if one of the Sons was into dudes?" asked Half-Sack. "Although I heard like one in every ten guys is gay. And if you count everybody, there's ten of us, so by the odds, somebody here is gay," he pointed out, grinning like an idiot at his revelation. 

"Well it sure as fuck ain't me," said Tig. "Where the fuck did you hear such a stupid thing anyway? One outta every ten guys? Who the fuck keeps track of that shit?" 

Half-Sack shrugged. "I think it was like health class or something. But c'mon, you don't think everybody in the club is completely straight, do you? There's a lot more gay people around than you think," he said, and then shrugged again. "It's not a big deal anymore."

Opie wanted everything the kid said to be true. Maybe it wasn't such a big deal, and maybe it was okay that he'd been with women all his life and now there was this one man that was fucking everything up in Opie's life. Now Opie was one step away from opening his mouth and telling them the whole story. 

Then Clay walked in. "All right, you assholes. Let's get this meeting started." He glanced over at Jax and Opie standing toe-to-toe. "Get the fuck over here and sit down. Pissing contest is over."

Even as he did what Clay said, Opie knew it wasn't over. He and Jax would have to come back to this, and he wasn't sure that he wanted to keep having this conversation – especially not with Jax.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm debating whether to do an entire rewrite in order to make this canon-compliant, but I think I'll finish the current version and then just do a massive edit to change some of the background events. The main story between Jax and Hale, and Jaz and Opie, will stay the same, but it would be colored by what happened in season 2 rather than a flimsy plot I made up on my own.   
> Thoughts?  
> And as always, thanks for reading! :-)


	6. Cold Showers

**Chapter Six: Cold Showers**

Alone in his hotel room, Jaz was starting to realize how much different it was after ten years of being inside. He'd been out of prison for several months now, but he wasn't sure how long it was going to take him to get used to the silence again. In Oz, there had always been background noise when it was time for lights out – the hacks doing their checks, the other inmates, and not to mention his pod mate's constant snoring. That had been the worst. 

Now, Jaz was realizing that he missed having somebody else in the room with him. Being entirely alone the way he was – it was nice not to have to worry about somebody shanking him in the middle of the night or something worse than that. But Jaz preferred the comfort of another body.

He wanted _Opie's_ body. He wanted Opie, and he couldn't get thoughts of their kiss out of his head. Jaz wanted so much more and he hated that he'd have to wait longer until he could finally get what he really wanted from Opie.

Moving slow was a good thing, he knew – especially with a guy like Opie who had all that fucking baggage. He'd probably run the minute Jaz laid a hand on him. He was afraid of getting attached, probably, especially with what happened to his wife. 

And with the kids? Jaz wasn't even sure how to navigate that roadblock. He'd never liked kids, and he'd never been good with them because kids tended not to like him, either. He wasn't sure how old Opie's kids were – that had never come up and he hadn't bothered asking – so who knew if that was something he'd be able to handle or not.

What Jaz really had to ask himself was if it was worth it. In the beginning, all he'd wanted was a quick lay and suddenly it was turning into so much more. Jaz had to think about whether he wanted to put the time in with the guy if he didn't even know what the end result was gonna be. 

He thought of Opie again, of how tall the other man was compared to him. He thought of Opie's beard, his broad shoulders, the black cap he wore pulled over his hair. He thought of the man's voice and of the conversations they'd had – however short. He thought of the way Opie responded to Jaz's flirtations, and he knew that there was no way he'd be able to forget about Opie Winston. 

Jaz sat straight up in the bed, unable to calm himself any longer. It was almost two in the morning but he couldn't wait any longer. He picked up his phone from the side table and turned it on.

He'd sent Opie a message a couple days ago and hadn't gotten a reply yet, so he sent out another one, asking Opie if he wanted to get together soon. He didn't want to push the guy, but he didn't want to wait any longer, either.

*

When he dropped the kids off this time, Gemma had pulled Opie aside and, quietly, suggested that she would keep the kids overnight if he needed her to. The look she'd given him told him just what she was thinking about him, about this 'date' that he was going on.

Opie wasn't sure what Gemma knew – if she had any idea who Opie was actually going to meet or not – but he was happy that she seemed to be pretty accepting about it. Chances were that she hadn't talked to her son. If Jax had spoken with her, Gemma would have been a little more wary about keeping the kids to let Opie go out to meet somebody.

He'd thanked her and then left, not wanting to turn it into a long conversation. Gemma Morror was the last person that Opie really wanted to have that talk with – well, aside from Clay. 

When they'd messaged each other over the phone, Jaz had somehow managed to convince Opie to meet him at his motel instead of in a public place like a restaurant or a bar. It was pretty obvious what they'd be doing this time around, and Opie had surprised himself with agreeing to the date easily. Maybe it was because he was thinking about the kiss they'd shared, the way it had felt holding Jaz there.

He pulled up to the motel and parked his truck next to Jaz's motorcycle, and for a moment wondered why the guy only had a bike. If he was travelling, wouldn't it have been easier to have a truck where he could keep the motorcycle in the back instead of trying to fit everything in the bags on his bike? He figured he'd have to ask Jaz about it when he got a chance – if they actually had time for talking.

Opie sat in the truck for a minute, trying to calm himself down. He wanted to be sure that he was making a good decision by agreeing to meet Jaz here. He'd basically said that he was looking for sex by showing up here. He was telling Jaz that he was interested and there was no going back now – well, not unless he pulled his truck back out of the parking space, went home and picked the kids up again.

But he couldn't bring himself to do that, so he took a deep breath and got out of the truck, locking it up before he walked up to the motel room door that matched the number Jaz had told him over the phone. He took another breath before knocking on the door, and then he told himself to stop worrying about it already. There was no point in getting nervous.

Jaz answered the door almost right away, and he greeted Opie with a smirk. "C'mon in," he said in his gruff voice. "Pizza's coming soon enough, and I have beer in the fridge," he added.

Nodding, Opie entered the room and let Jaz shut the door behind them.

He realized immediately how closely Jaz was standing to him. Jaz smelled like a fresh shower mixed in with some kind of musky cologne, and Opie wanted to bury his face in the smaller man's neck. He wanted to lick the tattoos, run his hands up Jaz's chest and –

"You want a beer?" asked Jaz, disrupting Opie's line of thought. The grin on his face suggested that Jaz knew what was going on inside Opie's head. "And you can sit down wherever." 

There was only two places where Opie _could_ sit – an uncomfortable looking chair sitting the by small desk, and the bed, which looked like Jaz had half-heartedly attempted to make himself rather than have the cleaning service do it for him. That just led Opie to a train of thought about why Jaz wouldn't let the cleaning service in. Was he hiding something? 

_Or maybe he just doesn't like somebody else cleaning for him_ , Opie told himself. _Just because Jax thinks this guy is trouble doesn’t mean you have to be paranoid about it!_ Still, when had he ever had reason not to trust Jax's opinion before?

Finally, Opie shook the thoughts out of his head for the moment. "Yeah, I'll have a beer." He could use a drink now anyway. Maybe that would relax him a little. 

He finally decided to take the chair, knowing that if he sat on the bed, he'd be making another unspoken comment to Jaz that he wasn't quite ready for yet – not when he'd just gotten here. 

Jaz handed him a beer and then sat down on the bed, leaning against the headboard and crossing his legs on top of the blankets. He didn't seem to mind wearing his boots on the bed, though Opie cringed a little at the dirt getting on the covers; that would be itchy when he was sleeping on it later. 

Popping the top on his beer, Opie took a sip of it. Wasn't the best beer he'd had, but it was beer and he couldn't complain about that. He wanted to say something to Jaz, start some kind of conversation, but nothing came to mind. He couldn't just ask about the kiss, could he? Finally, he cleared his throat, causing Jaz to look at him curiously. "How've you been?" he said. Stupid, pointless question, but it was a start to something, right? Fuck, he was terrible at this flirting thing.

But Jaz didn't seem to mind his lame comment. "I'm starting to really like Charming," he said. "Cute little town you got here, and everybody seems nice."

Opie raised an eyebrow. "People have been nice to you?" he asked.

"Why are you surprised by that? Are people usually mean here?" Jaz asked. He tilted his head, looking at Opie curiously. 

Shrugging, Opie said, "I don't know. I guess I just thought that 'cause you were a stranger, they might be a little wary." He was happy that it sounded like Jax hadn't bothered Jaz about anything yet. That was a good sign, because he didn't know what he'd do if Jax and Jaz ever met. That would be an interesting fight to watch, though. 

Before Jaz could add a comment to that, there was another knock on the door. "That'll be the pizza," said Jaz, and swung his legs over the side of the bed before getting to his feet. He stretched a little, arms above his head as he lengthened his body.

Opie took another long sip of the beer as Jaz went to the door and paid the pizza guy before accepting the box. He realized that it was too late to deny his attraction to the other man. At this point, he was just going to have to go with it and realize that there was nothing he could do except give in. 

The smell of the pizza aroused Opie's growling stomach, and when Jaz set it down on the small table and opened the box, Opie that the food distracted him enough from the other man's proximity that he wasn't thinking about kissing Jaz again – at least, that wasn't the first thought on his mind.

He helped himself to a couple slices of pizza, and the two of them ate in silence for what seemed like a long, awkward stretch of time. Opie hoped the rest of the evening wouldn't go this way as well.

*

They ate the entire pizza between the two of them, though Jaz felt kind of like a pig for eating so much of it. He was still getting used to what the food was like outside of prison and the fact that he was allowed to eat as much as he wanted instead of the limited portions they were given in the prison kitchen. Of course, he also had prison to thank for the weight he'd lost; he didn't want to gain that all back. He'd probably have to find a gym soon if he was going to stay in town for much longer.

He felt like he was in high school again, trying to get the band geeks to fuck him. The amount of work he had to go through just to get laid was ridiculous. But the thing was, he kinda like Opie and that was making the wait easier for him. Jaz never really thought he'd get attached to somebody like this before. Opie was special.

"Jax thinks you have some secret reason for being here," said Opie as he stood up to throw away his paper plate. "He doesn't seem to like you very much," he added. 

Jaz stood up as well, throwing his own plate away and approaching Opie. "He doesn't even know me and he doesn't like me? Well fuck him, then," he said, grinning.

Opie was so much larger than he was that Jaz was surprised when the other man let Jaz shove him up against the wall so roughly. He wanted this, didn't he? There was no denying that. 

And when Jaz leaned up to cover Opie's mouth with his own, the other man was the one who coaxed Jaz's mouth open, turning the kiss into something deep and sensual. It was Opie's hand that came to rest on the back of Jaz's neck, bring them even closer. 

With his fists curled into Opie's vest, Jaz pressed their bodies as closely as he could manage, not wanting to let a single breath of air escape between them. There was a part of him that feared if he released Opie, he might not get him back. What if Opie ran? 

The kiss broke off a minute later, with Jaz's heart beating so fast he thought it might burst from his chest. He kept his eyes on Opie, wondering if the other man was going to start doubting what they were doing. God, he hoped not, not after what they'd already been through. He'd hate to have to start all over from scratch with Opie. 

"This is –" he started.

"What?" challenged Jaz.

"Jax –"

"He has nothing to do with this. I don't know why the hell you care so much what he thinks. From what I've seen, the guy's kind of an asshole," Jaz pointed out. 

"He's my friend," said Opie, sounding torn up about it.

"Fine." Jaz backed up, holding his hands away from Opie. "You're free to leave. I don't do this shit with somebody that isn't willing. I got better morals than that." 

Opie scoffed. "Coming from a guy that spent ten years in prison."

"From what I hear, you aren't exactly innocent yourself, Mr. Winston." 

"He said you served time for assault," said Opie. His neutral tone of voice didn't betray what he thought of that, but Jaz could tell it wasn't exactly a turn on for Opie. "Is that where you were before you came to Charming?"

"Why?" Jaz asked, pressing closer. "Are you afraid of me, Opie?" He grinned a little, trying to keep the tension light. "Ain't like I killed anybody." Well, at least they could never prove that he'd killed anybody, and that was what counted. "I just have an anger problem." That much was true, though he'd managed to keep it under control for a while.

For a moment, Opie said nothing as he seemed to be processing the information in his head. When he spoke, it was to say, "That's it? You aren't hiding anything else from me?" 

How was he supposed to answer that? "You want my whole life story?" Jaz asked. "'Cause I gotta better idea for how we can spend the night and it don't involve much talking." He reached between them and cupped Opie's crotch.

That seemed to startle Opie out of speaking for a minute, and when Jaz teased him a little, Opie seemed to forget anything else he would've had to say. Instead, Opie brought his hands up to cup Jaz's face, bending down to kiss him deeply. 

It was the kind of kiss that hinted very strongly about what was going to happen next, and Jaz wasn't about ready to ignore what Opie's body was telling him. 

He kissed Opie back, letting his hands do the talking as he helped the other man out of his clothes. They had all night to get acquainted, and Jaz was looking forward to it.


	7. One Hand on the Throttle, the Other on the Brakes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tense moments of all sorts between both pairs of men, and Jaz finds himself wondering whether he really likes Charming or not.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow! I am so surprised to see how many people have commented after all this time. It's really pleasing that my work can affect people enough four years after I'd written it!
> 
> I do feel guilty, both to myself and you guys, for having abandoned this. It's one of my favorites that I'd worked on, and I've read it through a few times even more recently and wondered why I hadn't finished.
> 
> Well, thanks to those commenters, I've come back to work on it. So, here is the second to last chapter, four years in the making... 
> 
> ALSO, this one ends with a fairly explicit sex scene, so be forewarned.

**Chapter Seven: One Hand on the Throttle, the Other on the Brakes**

Jax Teller really didn't like when he was stuck in his own head like this, but it seemed like everything in his life had gone off the rails lately. Opie was his best friend, and yet they were stuck here in some kind of impasse. Opie was hiding the truth from him, and Jax was hiding the truth from his friend as well. While he didn't want to have a long emotional talk, he did want to get a few things straight. 

When he called Opie's phone, there was no answer. It was late. Maybe that explained it. Just for the hell of it, he called his mother, and she told him what he wanted to know, what he had already suspected – she had Opie's kids for the night. Anger seemed to rise up in Jax's throat, but he tamped it down. He couldn't police his friend's every move, but goddamn he hated Opie being involved with that sonofabitch. They knew next to nothing about him other than the prison time information, and that opened up a lot more questions than it answered. Who knew what Opie was telling him while they were all naked and tangled up together, and Opie was fucking that guy and –

What if Opie was taking it instead? What a weird idea, that Opie would let somebody do him. He was such a big guy, and so masculine and straight. No way would he take it. But… Jax pictured David again, splayed out in front of him. And he got hard, had to adjust himself. He was alone, so he could jack off if he wanted to, but there was something else on his mind…

*

It was weird waking up next to somebody, Jaz realized. He couldn't decide if it was a good weird or a bad weird, but he knew that if he dwelled on it for too long he was just going to make it more complicated than it needed to me. Sleeping with somebody – and then literally sleeping with them – didn't have to mean forever. Was this something that he would want forever? That thought gave him an uncomfortable feeling and he pushed it aside.

Opie took up most of the bed with his giant body. That part Jaz didn't like. 

He slipped out of bed and grabbed his clothes off the floor. Without bothering to wake the other man up, he went into the shower. He still hadn't gotten used to the luxury of a long hot shower, so he might have taken longer than necessary, letting the bathroom fog up and his skin turn pink. 

When he got out of the shower, Opie was already gone. No note or anything, which was kind of a dick move, though it did mean that Jaz didn't have to have some kind of talk with him about their feelings. But Jaz couldn't help but wonder, was Opie having regrets He had seemed to enjoy himself last night, so why was there suddenly an issue that made him leave while Jaz was otherwise occupied? 

A dissenting voice in Jaz's head said "You're one to judge." Which was true. Maybe that was the thing about sex – it was hard not to have some regrets after the fact. 

Jaz wasn't sure what to do with himself now. He was aware that, were he to stay in Charming, he'd need a real place to stay. On top of that, he'd need a real job. Neither were things he particularly wanted and he wasn't even sure of what kind of job he would look for. What was he qualified to do? And more importantly, who would hire an ex con?

He wondered if they would let him work at that auto place where he'd met Opie. They probably had ex-cons there – after all wasn't Opie one? The issue with that was that if Jaz went to see them now, there was a chance that he would run into Opie. He didn't want to make things awkward. There was also the tiny detail that he really didn't know much at all about cars. He was lucky enough that he could take care of his motorcycle when he needed to.

In the end, he decided to take a drive around and see if anything appealed to him

*

Still, Jaz ended up back at the auto shop despite his intentions otherwise. The skinny blond kid was there again, sitting out front. With him was a grumpy looking old guy and a third man – kinda thin, dark haired, with a look in his eye that reminded Jaz of Ryan O'Reily. They were the eyes of a man who was smart but crazy and could fuck you up in more ways than you could imagine.

Dark haired guy got to attention when Jaz pulled up. "Help you?" he asked with that hostile tone in his voice everyone around these parts seemed to have. Maybe it was this place, or maybe it was Jaz. Hard to tell, but it was going into Jaz's mental file about whether he wanted to put down roots here or not. 

"Something wrong with the bike?" asked the blond. "Thought we did a decent job on it last time you were here." At least he didn't look hostile, more like vaguely curious. He had a weird nickname from what Jaz remembered – something balls? Sack? Something to do with his man parts. 

Jaz kind of shrugged, but kept his eye on the crazy looking motherfucker. "Naw, it's cool. I just came to see –"

"Wait, are you that kid Opie's been messing around with?" the old guy asked in a gruff voice. His tone was suspicious, with that hostility in there somewhere too.

Jaz felt like he'd been caught with his dad's porn or something. "What the hell are you talking about?" Maybe he spoke a little too quickly and a little too defensively, but by god he was getting sick of the way he was getting treated. And what did this jackass know about anything?

"I think that's a yes." Crazy-eyes said. He walked up, not quite in Jaz's space but like he was planning to go there if he felt threatened enough. Or maybe if he just felt like it. You could never tell what was going on in the head of somebody like that. 

To gain back the upper hand, Jaz got closer, wanting to show that he was just as ready to throw down as this other guy was. "Who cares if it's a yes or a no? Is there some kinda law here against trying to make friends? Opie's an adult and he can make his own choices. Don't see how any of that affects you." He tried real hard to keep his tone level and neutral and let his words do the talking, but he could feel his anger rising up. Ten years of prison didn't make it any easier to control his rage, and god he would give anything to have a good old fashioned, testosterone-filled fist fight. 

"Nobody here has any fucking idea who you are or what you're up to, just that you came here after getting out of jail. Now you're messing around with Opie and doing who the fuck knows what with him. Everybody here knows him better than you, yet you're the one acting like you're the expert." Crazy eyes got closer, and now the two of them were within grabbing distance of each other. Punching distance.

There was some kind of adrenaline high that Jaz felt at the prospect of a fight. He remembered the assault that had put him in prison. It had been a bad idea, probably, but the feeling he'd gotten from just releasing himself and going into full on rage mode was delicious. "You don't want to fuck with me, asshole." But he wanted something to happen so he'd have an excuse to punch this guy's face in. He hadn't realized how much he needed it until now. 

Crazy eyes got closer and now they really were in each other's faces.

"Jesus Christ, you guys are acting like a couple of alpha wolves in a pissing contest," the old guy said. "Don't be starting shit, 'cause I don't want the cops here anymore than you do." 

For a long, long moment, the two of them just stared at each other. Their gazes implied threats, even if there was nothing overt. Jaz thought it would be really nice to just punch this guy's asshole face. Before Jaz could make his move, the other man's tension seemed to dissipate and he backed away. 

"Consider yourself lucky this time," said the man, eyes narrow. "But I'd suggest you leave Charming and don't come back. Nothing but trouble for you here."

*

David Hale knew he was weak. There was no denying the fact, not with Jax standing in his living room with that stupid cocky grin on his face, knowing that he was going to get exactly what he wanted from David. There was a bit of a falter in Jax's stance, though, something that David hadn't quite recognized at first, but now realized was guilt. Was it possible that Jax didn't quite have the confidence in his own actions that he often presented himself as having? David had wondered if Jax had been with men before, and now he was thinking that all signs pointed to no. There was also the fact that he was here in David's house, wanting to see David again. He'd figured that Jax was a one-and-done kind of guy, but looking for a second time – or more – was a symptom of something entirely different.

Something curled inside of David's stomach that he couldn't acknowledge. "I can't keep doing this," he managed to spit out. But there wasn't any real conviction in his voice, and he knew Jax wouldn't believe it anyway. Yet it was something he had to say to keep the charade up. And now it seemed that they were both playing some sort of game, deception that wasn't really, lying to themselves and each other that this wasn't something that they really wanted. 

"Can we not talk?" Jax said, and his overconfidence seemed to fade a little, like he was letting his guard down. "At least not about this. I just –" He exhaled.

Even without the end of that sentence, David knew. So he did what he knew he should do, and closed the distance between them, pushing his body up to Jax's. This time was going to be less violent than the first, but David still wanted to submit himself, so he unbuckled Jax's pants himself, kissed his neck and reached into Jax's pants to rub his hardening crotch through the underwear. 

The other man didn't move at first, other than tilting his head to allow David more space. He was quiet except for a hitch in his breath when David massaged his balls the right way. So David did it again and earned a barely audible breathy moan. Then Jax put his hand on David's neck, pulled him up for a hard kiss and adrenaline began surging through David's body. This was a kind of high he couldn't recreate with drugs or alcohol. 

The kiss turned rougher, and Jax was pushing back, grabbing at David's waist so hard that he was creating bruises. David's moan was almost embarrassingly loud, but he wanted this so badly that he couldn't stop himself – and he found he didn't really care. When they were alone, it didn't really matter.

Clothes came off in a flurry of motion, and they were all over each other like a couple in a romance movie who had finally given in to the sexual tension. Jax nudged him to the couch and laid him down, then climbed on top and began grinding against him, like they were both teenagers, and it brought David back to when they were in school together, to all the fantasies he'd had. 

This was better, because they were adults now and David knew much more about sex than he had back then, and he knew the things that Jax was capable of, the feelings that he could give David. Reality was better than fantasy every time. He felt like he was going to explode, wasn't sure how long he would be able to last, but he wanted it to go on forever.

He grabbed Jax's face again and gave him another hard, opened mouth kiss, but after only a moment, Jax pulled back, breathing hard and looking flushed, dark eyed.

"Hang on," he said, and climbed off. 

Confused, David sat up.

For a moment, when Jax grabbed his jeans off the floor, David panicked that he was going to be left here, hard and wanting, while the other man dressed and left. Instead, Jax took something out of the pocket of his jeans – condoms, and a small bottle of lube. 

His heart pounded, and his head fell back again. His cock throbbed, and he took it in his hand for a few strokes, feeling that dark, heavy, extremely horny feeling that usually meant he was watching that really dirty, gritty porn that he always felt guilty about afterward. But this wasn't porn. 

Dark eyes watching him, Jax stroked his own cock, and it was such an intense moment that David almost came right there. 

"We're going to do this right," said Jax. He got back on the couch, parting David's legs and kneeling between them. He nudged David's knees toward his chest and opened the bottle of lube, squirting some near David's ass, and more on his fingers. He took his time preparing David working one finger inside and then two, leaning forward to kiss him again when he added the third finger. 

David's legs were over Jax's shoulders when finally, Jax pulled his fingers out and slipped on the condom. They both stroked themselves, eyes on each other, before Jax positioned his cock at David's opening and then pushed the tip inside. 

Moaning, David said, "please," and in that moment felt so submissive and completely at the mercy of Jax, who could take this away at any moment that he chose.

"Yeah," breathed Jax, and worked himself in further, a bit at a time to give David time to adjust. Still, it didn't take him long before he was balls deep, and for a moment David felt like he was whole. It was a ridiculous thought, and one he knew he would feel embarrassed about after his orgasm, but he felt as though this was what he had been waiting for. For Jax Teller to be deep inside him – for Jax Teller to have even come here of his own accord for the purpose of fucking David.

Things got sweaty as Jax began fucking David harder, both of them making obscene noises, unable to say anything more than "fuck" and "yeah" and a whole string of "please, please, please" from David. He stroked his cock to the tempo of Jax's dick working in and out of him, and soon felt himself reaching the point of no return, and he closed his eyes and let himself go, spurting on his chest and stomach. 

He opened his eyes to watch Jax, who was working faster now, his own eyes heavy lidded and his head tilted back as he reached his own orgasm. The face Jax made was so hot, David tried to burn it into his mind for later, when Jax was gone and all he had were his own thoughts to jerk off to.

After taking a moment to gather himself, Jax pulled out and took care of the condom, and then went into the kitchen like it was his own house, coming back with a wet dishcloth to clean David off as well. It was almost clinical, but sweet at the same time, and David felt his heart pound heavily. 

When all that was done, Jax stood beside the couch, and David sat up. They both awkwardly looked at each other, and David wanted to say something, but he couldn't think of a single thing that didn't sound completely stupid or needy.

Then Jax leaned forward, one hand on each of David's knees. They kissed again, a long slow kiss that had a romantic undertone that was both confusing and appealing to David. When Jax pulled back, he gave David a bit of a smile. "Thanks," he said. He began to pull his clothes on silently.

He finished, and gave David another look. "I'll see you around, okay?"

David nodded, and Jax left. He lay back on the couch again, wondering what "I'll see you around" really meant, and wondering if he was ready to find out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another note, I changed some of the previous chapter titles. Also, as mentioned briefly above, though I had originally intended this to be ten chapters, I've shortened it to eight as I've lost all my notes (two laptops and four years later will do that to you) and my new ending "plot" only requires this and one more chapter.
> 
> Again, huge thanks to those of you who've commented in the past few months. Has really helped me get back into writing not just this but a few other personal stories as well. It's been ages!


	8. The Only Thing a Rambler Needs is a Suitcase and a Gun

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Why does everybody seem to be getting into Jaz's face and wanting to start a fight? Seems like things are going to get fiery real soon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Man, it is really hard to get back into writing when it's been a while. This has gotten way off canon, mainly because it's been a while, and also because I never finished SoA (I know, I know!). I'll probably end up binge watching it soon, but I can't remember if it's still on Netflix.

He was having a dream, but it didn't feel like a dream. He was back in Em City, sitting at a table and playing cards with the guys. That was all that was going on, but there was a feel of comfort. Of familiarity. The ambient noise of the other prisoners walking around and arguing and making deals and just existing around him. The COs standing guard. Hell, even McManus was a welcome sight. 

Jaz woke up from the dream slowly, but the feeling stayed with him for a few moments as he lay there. "This is fucking weird," he said out loud to the empty hotel room. It was just a dream, certainly, but that didn't make it any less confusing. Sure, after spending ten years in one place, he got used to it. That didn't mean it was home. To think that the dream version of himself – some vaguely unconscious thought in the back of his mind – missed Oz, was frightening in a way. It just meant that he was a criminal at heart, and there was no changing that. 

He wanted to be a good man. He wanted to move on from the past and learn to be a functioning member of society, and he wanted Opie to be a part of that… didn't he? Jaz felt like banging his head against a wall for all the confusion the dream caused. Instead, he went to take a shower that was just a few degrees too hot.

*

 

"That prick that's been hanging around you came by the shop today," said Jax, looking sideways at Opie. They were alone, so Opie didn't feel as uncomfortable as he had the last time this topic had come up. At least his dad wasn't here to listen to this.

"He has a name." Opie knew that wasn't a real answer.

"Jaz isn't a fucking name, it's a kind of music."

Opie exhaled. "This isn't about his name and you fucking know it. Just come out with it, Jax. You don't want me sleeping with a guy, right? Even though it's okay for you to fuck around with the cops." It came out wearier than he intended, but Opie was getting sick of having this conversation, this fight. Everything was this soap opera drama arguing lately, and it made Opie miss the days when it was nothing more than riding motorcycles and enjoying the feel of a rumbling machine between his legs --

Okay, so maybe that turn of phrase was a little gayer than he had intended. Then again, Opie himself was gayer than he had intended. This train of thought was going nowhere good. 

"It's not you sleeping with a guy. It's this guy. He gives me a bad fucking feeling and I don't like it." Jax let out a huff. "And - I don't want you to take this the wrong way, but do you think maybe it's too soon? That maybe this is some kind of weird rebound thing?" As soon as he spoke, though, Jax actually looked like he might have regretted the harshness of his words.

Opie shrugged. "Does it matter? It's not like I'm marrying the guy. It's a couple of dates, sex – it doesn't have to mean anything." Saying that out loud felt like an admission to himself as well. Did it mean anything? Was he messing around with Jaz or was he serious about it? Was Jax right and this was some sort of rebound, so soon after the death of his wife? Donna had meant so much to him, and Jaz was so different from her. 

"You think so?" Jax sounded curious. Then he shrugged, too. "I don't really care anymore, to be honest. I just want my best friend back. With all this shit with the club and the Mayans and Hale –" He cut himself off as soon as he'd said the name, and looked almost embarrassed at himself. 

Now that was something Opie wanted to talk about. But he knew that he couldn't push Jax, not when they were still on thin ice. If he did, they both might fall through and drown, and they couldn't afford that with the way things were going.

"Look," said Opie. "Let's just put this all aside for now, yeah? So things are weird and confusing and we both said some stupid stuff and we both fucked things up, but it's not the first time that's happened between us. We can get over it, right?" 

"Well, yeah," agree Jax. Then he went in for a hug, which Opie returned with the mandatory back pat at the end that went standard with guy hugs. 

Pulling back, Jax had a smirk on his face as he said, "You know, though. I'm wondering now why you never made a pass at me. I mean, now that I know you're into dudes, I feel a little hurt." 

Rather than give him a straight – ha – answer, Opie just punched him in the arm. He was just happy that things were going back to a normal place, at least with his best friend.

*

 

Somehow Jaz Hoyt ended up at the grocery store, having convinced himself that he needed to buy some real food instead of eating take out Chinese food and gas station snacks for every meal. Once inside the building he felt overwhelmed by the bright overhead lights, the air conditioning, and the piped-in music. It felt like an assault on his senses, a reminder that this was the real world and he couldn't escape it. 

He pushed past the initial desire to get out and take his bike someplace else and walked himself to the produce section. He hadn't had fresh vegetables and fruit in a long time and he almost didn't even know what to choose. There were so many different kinds of lettuce that he had never been aware of. What was the difference between the red leaf and the green leaf, besides the color? Did people really each uncooked spinach? And what in the world was kale? 

Because he didn't know what to do with any of that stuff, he moved on to the fruits, examining everything and trying to find something that he could work with. 

A few minutes passed as Jaz looked at the seven hundred different kinds of apples, and then he became aware of somebody standing just outside of his field of vision and not moving. At first, he busied himself picking a few different varieties to sample, but when the person still hadn't moved or said anything, he finally looked up, ready to grumble at them for staring. 

It was that Mexican that had harassed him at the gas station. Alvarez. Jesus Christ, was there no escaping this shit? 

"Can I help you?" Though he was trying to be somewhat calm, he couldn't leave the snark out of his voice. He was Jaz Hoyt after all, and one of his defining features was the need for a fight when somebody was fucking with him. And this guy was basically asking for him.

"Thought you would've left town by now," said the other man. "You said you weren't with SAMCRO." His voice held the same amount of potential threat that Jaz's had. Maybe they weren't so different in that regard, and Jaz had a little respect for that. 

"What's it to you?" He wished he had a weapon, because if memory served him correctly, this guy had a gun somewhere on his person. Jaz could do with a knife since they were in such close quarters. But a gun would be even better. Why hadn't he thought about that before now? Would this guy shoot him in the middle of the grocery store, with or without reason? 

Alvarez shrugged. "I don't like you. Or your club, but mostly I just don't like your face." 

"Yours ain't much to look at either, pal." One hand was holding the grocery basket, but Jaz's free hand clenched into a fist. His heart was beating faster and low in his belly there was the sense that he was going to get hard. Fights could do that to him. 

The other guy's hands went to his side. Yeah, he was definitely packing, and that gesture was more than just a warning. "I don't have to have a reason to teach you a lesson, you know." 

"And you think I do?" Jaz set the basket on the floor. So maybe he didn't have a weapon, but he had fists, and if he could disarm this guy before he got off a shot, a physical fight could get the job done in a satisfying way for the both of them. 

A smirk from the Mexican. "You wanna go there?" His voice lowered. "Because my kinda lesson only leaves one of us at the end of it. And it ain't gonna be you." 

Another voice interrupted them. "Excuse me, sirs." It was a skinny teenager in a blue polo shirt with a name tag that said "Trevor, assistant produce manager", looking about to piss his pants. "I'm going to have the both of you to calm down. We don't allow this kind of behavior and you're frightening some of the other customers. If you don't, I'm afraid I'll have to call the police." 

Jaz did not want to deal with the police, so after giving the Mexican a look that suggested this was not their last encounter, said "No worries. I'm done here anyway." 

"You better hope I don't fuckin see you again," said Alvarez.

Trevor looked caught between nervous and maybe a little excited about the idea of a fight. 

"Don't be so sure," were Jaz's last words before he headed out without his groceries. Outside, he climbed on his bike and started it up.

The tension in his body was like a spring just ready to pop. All of this buildup and nothing to show for it was like making out for an hour without so much as a chance to dry hump or get a hand job. He wanted a fucking fight and he was sick of being interrupted before he could get off one good punch. 

He was thinking that he needed either a fight or a fuck, and right now his best option was the latter. After sending off a text to Opie – which took him longer than he would have liked, with his fingers too fat to type properly – he rode off to find the guy.

*

Work was the last place that David wanted to be right now, with thoughts of Jax and their sexual encounter dominating his thoughts. Sex with the other man was becoming addictive and David was wanting it more and more, wondering whether Jax felt the same. Their relationship had changed so much recently that there was no clear definition and David was left in the dark about where they stood. He knew that asking Jax would end nowhere good for him; he had no control of this situation and admitting that to Jax would just make him weak. And he wasn't that weak, dammit.

Leaving his office, David went to find Unser. 

"I think I'm going to go for a drive and see if anything's going on," he told his boss.

He got one of those looks, the one that asked him if there was something he wanted to talk about. But there sure wasn't anything he wanted to talk about with him. Not in a million goddamn years.

David tried to tell himself that he wasn't looking for Jax Teller, but that didn't stop him from finding the man, hanging out alone, sitting on the sidewalk with a hot dog, his bike parked next to him. Would parking there and stopping to have a chat be a stupid idea? Well, of course it was a fucking stupid idea, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to do it. 

Jax spotted him before David could make a definitive choice, and he waved. "Hey, Hale! Why don't you join me for a bite?" The decision having been made for him, David parked his car and got out.

He couldn't help himself as he sat on the sidewalk next to Jax. "Don't you think that's a little phallic?" he asked, gesturing to the hot dog that Jax was taking a bite out of. 

The other man laughed. "You of all people should know I don't have a problem with dicks." He elbowed David. 

His openness and jovial attitude was a little surprising to David, and it provided him with some sense of comfort. Maybe their relationship was going in a positive direction after all. He didn't expect that Jax would be telling the club about this – after all, they were still supposed to be on opposing sides in this confusing sort of pervasive war that overtook Charming. But there was a chance that David didn't have to feel so guilty about his desire after all. 

"Hey, listen. You seen that Jaz guy recently?" He brought it up casually, but David suspected that it was not as casual as Jax intended.

"Not really, but I haven't been looking out for him." He shrugged. "Are you guys having problems with him, or do you just not like him because of the thing with Opie?" 

"Isn't that a good enough reason?" 

"Not in the eyes of the law," David pointed out.

Jax snorted. "As if you guys have ever been on the straight and narrow." 

It was hard to argue against that, but by extension it was also true that there were not so many police departments that didn't have at least one corrupt officer somewhere along the line. It was hard to escape, because there were people everywhere who took power and abused it. Any powerful position attracted those types of people.

"Anyway," Jax said, "He showed up at the shop and harassed Tig." 

Technically, that was enough to at least check up on him, but David had a feeling that was not the full story. "What kind of harassment?"

Jax finished his hot dog, then said, "Tig says he was trying to start a fight and shit. But seriously, why would he show up there for any other reason than to cause trouble? I really think there's something in his past that we don't know about. I just think he's bad news."

"You're just overprotective, Jax. I think you just need to stop being so paranoid and focus on your club. Surely you've got more important things going on."

"Yeah," said Jax. "I hope you're right."

David did, too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I lied. I thought this would be the last chapter, but it got longer than intended and I will be adding one more. Sorry this one was kind of boring.


End file.
